“The debt ceiling has proven to be incredibly effective,” Cuban-Canadian Ted Cruz (R-Quintana Roo) declares as he states his Party’s intention to once again jeopardize America’s credit rating, the world economy and millions of jobs for a self-promotional political stunt.  “In 2011, by standing strong on the debt ceiling, the Republican majority in the House forced passage of the Budget Control Act, the most significant constraint in federal spending in modern times.  When I arrived here in 2013, my Republican leadership was crowing about the great fiscal responsibility they saw because of the Budget Control Act, and then they turned around and abandoned it couple years later.”

Cruz hopes people don’t remember the subsequent sequestration demanded by the nihilistic Republicans of the era, when budgets at federal departments were cut across the board, leading to sudden decreases in funds that supported special ed programs, national parks, highway repair and a slew of other federal services and projects that immediately took a cut.  That left the economy put the brakes on the economy, with 2013 seeing a 0.5% slowdown in American economic growth, from 2.3% in 2012 to 1.8% in 2013, when Cruz et al’s cuts occurred.  The Congressional Budget Office estimated Cruz’s sequestration stunt cost the US economy 750,000 jobs in 2013 alone.  It was abandoned, Ted, because it sucked.  It was destructive.  It was a failure.

Also, Ted, one last thing:  how did the Budget Control Act work at controlling spending when Donald Trump ran up a $9 trillion debt in just four years?  Seems it’s only successful when you have a Democratic administration intent on lowering the deficit, like, say, Obama and Biden.